Penn study could lead to screening methods to detect precancerous conditions
and cancer prevention strategies related to obesity

In a study comparing
two strains of mice, one susceptible to developing cancer and the other not,
researchers found that a high-fat diet predisposed the cancer-susceptible strain
to liver cancer, and that by switching to a low-fat diet early in the
experiment, the same high-risk mice avoided the malignancy. The switched mice
were lean rather than obese and had healthy livers at the end of the study. The
investigators studied hepatocellular carcinoma, a type of liver cancer that is
one of the leading causes of cancer death worldwide. Thirty percent of cases are
associated with obesity, type 2 diabetes, and related metabolic diseases,
although a direct link between these and liver cell cancer has not been
completely established. The connection between obesity and cancer is not well
understood at this point, says senior co-author John Lambris, PhD, the
Dr. Ralph and Sallie Weaver Professor of Research Medicine... Read More